Avalanche rookie camp roster; Rantanen takes birth-year #96

Avalanche prospects skate Friday at Family Sports Center, following an informal session by the club’s veterans.

Avalanche first-round draft pick Mikko Rantanen skated with other young Avalanche prospects Thursday but he was absent Friday. But we know he will take No. 96, his birth year. We also learned that young defensemen Chris Bigras and Duncan Siemens now have traditional numbers (3 and 15, respectively), and that newcomer Brandon Gormley, who was No. 33 in Arizona, will not be No. 33 in Colorado (it’s retired). Gormely, 23, will report with the veterans, along with goalie Calvin Pickard, who is also 23, and second-year forwards Borna Rendulic and Dennis Everberg.

This week’s informal skates at Family Sports Center follow a veteran captain’s skate (which, by the way, included defenseman Jan Hejda on Friday). Nearly all the rookies and veterans are in town and preparing for next week’s camps. Hejda, who is an unrestricted free agent, told me he’s probably going to retire, but he would look at a contract if one was offered. In skating with his “former” teammates, he’s simply trying to stay in shape.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.